Sitting on the outskirts of the Tanquai village was a single person on a chair. Scratching his gruff beard, the man known as Valurn sat with a bored expression on his face. His wavy long black hair swayed in the light breezes that passed by; his grey eyes staring into nothingness.

As a retired assassin of the Demon King Force, Valurn volunteered himself as one of the village guards. His experience with [Presence Detection], spying, and assassination made him one of the more reliable and strong protectors. Of course, as this village was pretty much obscure and lacked anything much of a threat nearby, most of his days passed by with him dozing off.

Not that he was complaining about that anyways.

“From hunting down traitors and scouting armies to sitting out here dozing off. Man, I’ve fallen far.” Valurn smiled in pity.

Leaning his back against the chair, he started to relax once more. Soaking in the evening sun’s rays, listening to the birds chirping and the grass swaying, the peaceful life of retirement was quite the nice change for the battle-hardened Demon.

As he began to enter the realm of sleep, suddenly his [Presence Detection] started blaring inside of him.

“What the hell...”

[Presence Detection] was a skill capable of detecting the presence of any intelligent being in a certain radius based on its user’s skill level. However, it’s biggest benefit is being able to detect fear or hostile intentions from its target. Like pain receptors, it warns the user of the two aforementioned benefits and detects the source of such.

This time, he felt strong fear from two beings running towards the village.

Valurn jolted up and activated [Eagle Vision]. Seeing two figures running and yelling something out a few miles out in the distance, he turned on his [Distance Hearing] and tried to make out what was being said.

“Help! A whole stampede of [Rhinobeasts] are chasing us! Someone get my dad!”

After hearing that, Valurn immediately recognized the severity of the situation. As a former assassin, while his skills could eliminate an inconspicuous A-rank monster, it was virtually worthless against a group of D-rankers, let alone a stampede of C-rank [Rhinobeasts]. After all, his specialty was hitting vital points and catching his targets unaware, so his killing potential would reduce drastically if they recognized his presence.

Understanding he was powerless to do much of anything himself, Valurn got up from his chair. He predicted he’d have 10 minutes at best before they got too close to the village. He ran back to the village as fast as he could seeking out that child’s dad.

“Hey. Do you remember where Levion’s farm is located?”

”Um, I don’t remember. I know he and his son used to live near Sharita’s place, but he moved from there I think.”

”Damn it.”

Valurn cursed as he kept running from house to house. He knew that every precious second counted, yet his friend’s weird obsession with moving every month made it hard to track him down.

”Crap. Who’d keep up with the movements of that weird bastard.”

Cursing and muttering, he kept running absentmindedly until suddenly he ran right into someone. Colliding, they both lost their balance and fell to the ground.

“Ah shit. Sorry about — hey wait a moment.”

Recognizing the person he bumped into, he knew lady luck was on his side. If that person didn’t know where Levion lived, no one did.

Barely able to contain his excitement, he shook the fallen dazed lady with crazed eyes.

“Hey Lucia! Do you know where Levion lives right now?

Lucia stared at the man in front of her, confused for a moment. However, as the topic was about Levion, her face soon brightened up and her attitude became cheery.

“Oh yes! My future husband Levion! Ah, that handsome stud moved right next to old man Jauvin a few days ago. It was amazing! He used his strong and sexy muscles to lift up the whole barn an—huh?”

After hearing his location, Valurn immediately got up and sped southward. He didn’t want to waste anytime hearing her ludicrous fantasies.

Meanwhile, Lucia remained behind, completely confused as to what just happened.

Coming up towards a humble looking farm, Valurn internally hoped he made it in time. After wasting five minutes just trying to figure out where he lived, he finally made it within nine minutes of hearing Darian’s cry for help.

Looking out towards the fields, he finally found who he was looking for.

“Hey! Levion! Your son and his friend are being chased by a whole stampede of [Rhinobeasts]!”

Out in the distance, a buff looking demon perked up his triangular ears. As he was tilling the farmland outside, his tan, ripped body was covered in perspiration. His long blood red hair dangled as he turned his handsome face towards the voice. Hearing its contents, his eyebrows furrowed into a frown above his blood red eyes.

How the hell did he get a whole [Rhinobeast] stampede to chase after them? Levion wondered to himself.

Considering how this village rarely even saw F-ranked monsters. having a whole C-rank stampede was completely abnormal.

However, that didn’t matter as much anymore when he realized his son may be in danger.

“Where are they at?” Levion questioned Valurn with a sense of urgency.

“Over at the north side of the village. You better hurry before this whole village gets done for!”

With a nod, Levion activated a few of his ability buffs and skills. He then initiated [Flash Steps], leaned back, and exploded through the air. In a flash, he disappeared from the farmland as if he were never there.

Feeling the soundblast in his bones, Valurn smiled as he saw his old friend run off. A sense of relief washed over him.

“If there was ever a demon that could fight on par with a Hero, that old man just may be the one.”

Laughing, he turned his heels and started walking towards the north. Of course, he wasn’t in that much of a rush. He knew there was no way Levion would lose to them. The only real worry was whether he’d make it in time.

However, knowing Levion, he figured there was no way that man would let anything bad happen.

Overhearing the ruckus, a certain blue-skinned figure emerged from a house next to Levion’s farm. Holding a cigar pipe in one hand and his cane in another, this bald-deaded demon came out with a scowl across his wrinkled face. His pot-belly jiggled with his unkempt long grey beard as he lumbered over his blue-skinned self towards Valurn.

“WHAT DER HELL IS GOIN’ ON ‘ER YER DAMNED MORONS. I WAS TRYN’R SLEEP N’ Y’ALL MAKIN’ MORE NOISE DERN A FOOKIN’ DRAGURN.” The old grump screamed, saliva flying at Valurn’s face.

“Good evening to you Jauvin,” Valurn respectfully replied while wiping off the spit. “Just trying to stop a stampede of [Rhinobeasts] is all.”

Jauvin’s scowl furrowed even more as visible anger lines formed on his old face.

“Der hell? Since wen has this ‘er village been a place where dem C-rankers stampede?”

Sweat formed at the back of Valurn’s head. He’d rather face a whole army of dragons than face the wrath of his old grump. However, knowing what would happen if he lied instead...

With a sigh, Valurn decided he may as well tell him what’s going on while bracing himself.

“Well, Levion’s son and Saudro’s daughter were out hunting, and then—”

“DER HELL YOU LETTIN’ ‘EM RASCALS GO HUNT ON DER OWN FOR. I DUN TOLD YER SHITHEADS DER YOUTH IN DIS ‘ER VILLAGE ARE NUTHIN’ BUT RETARDS. SHOULD I REMIND YER THOSE BASTURDS…”

As Jauvin continued on with another one of his sermons, Valurn closed his ears off wondering why he decided to retire in this village.

“Please let my dad be home. Please!”

Darian was currently running while holding onto Alicia tightly. Adrenaline coursed through his veins as he used every ounce of power to keep himself running, understanding any reduction in speed meant certain death. Behind him, the [Rhinobeasts] kept chugging along, showing no signs whatsoever of letting two tasty little meals in front of them get away.

As for Alicia, she remained quiet, tightly hugging Darian as he continued running. Once she realized how serious their situation was, her “princess” ploy shut down real quick. Her thoughts were thinking only of Darian and her safety and hoping nothing bad will happen. However, once it sunk in they were running towards the village, she started questioning Darian in worry.

“Hey Darian. Shouldn’t we try and steer away the stampede somewhere else other than the village?”

“We’ll do that if my dad isn’t there. I’m sure by now Valurn already saw us and heard me. I’ll give it one more minute before we go ahead and hightail it for the creek and think of something.”

Continuing on, Darian kept running and running, hoping his dad would be there. His strength and stamina was nearing its limits alongside [Shadow Steps]. The only reason they were outrunning the stampede in the first place was due to that speed-increasing ability. He knew that if they had to go to Plan B, their chances of survival were slim.

Unfortunately, he wouldn’t even be given the chance for that Plan B.

All of a sudden, Darian’s [Shadow Steps] ran out of juice. He and Alicia both stumbled and fell to the ground rolling and sputtering. Meanwhile, the [Rhinobeasts] kept on running without stopping. To their dismay, those monsters started getting very close to closing the gap between them.

”So...looks like we’re gonna die.” Darian muttered in anguish.

”I don’t wanna die...”Alicia cried out weakly.

Darian crawled over to Alicia and hugged her tight. They both closed eyes and braced themselves for certain death.

“Oh like hell you two are gonna die today.”

Suddenly, a wave of energy exploded right in front of the pair. A bright flash radiated from the spot as a tall figure appeared. Both Darian and Alicia sat there stunned as they couldn’t believe what was happening.

A cliche’ event they were more than happy to have happen to them.

“Dad made it in time...” Darian muttered as he slumped down on Alicia in pure exhaustion.

“Alright, you two stay right there. I’ll take care of these bugs.”

After comforting the two, Levion looked out towards the approaching [Rhinobeasts] stampeding towards him. With a serious expression, he started chanting.

“[Hellfire Axe]!”

The air exploded and whizzed as blazing flames appeared, twisting and curling around what appeared to be an axe. Energy flew around as it emitted a very intimidating aura. He grabbed the [Hellfire Axe] and stepped back.

Right when the [Rhinobeasts] neared him, Levion swung his axe around as his [Hellfire Slash] move activated. A flame arc blasted out and slammed right into the stampede. All the [Rhinobeasts] were hit a damaging blow, forcing them to slow down and halt their movements. Angered at the sudden attack, they started roaring and emitting their [Monstrous Aura] to intimidate.

Unfortunately for them, that had no effect on Levion.

“You bastards aren’t strong enough to raise a single hair of mine.”

Activating [Flash Steps], he blasted off right into the middle of the horde. The [Rhinobeasts] turned around in surprise and faced the sudden intruder. However, before they started to prep themselves to run their enemy over, Levion squatted and started spinning like a top with his axe drawn out. Suddenly, the area was enclosed with multiple circular pulses of flame as [Ring of Hellfire] activated.

The flame circles exploded out and hit the [Rhinobeasts] with a barrage of repeated attacks. Under the constant beating, these monsters could only roar in anguish as life leaked out of their rapidly charred bodies. Soon, all the [Rhinobeasts] fell to the ground on fire, burning and smoking away.

In the middle of the carnage, Levion got up with a smirk on his face. Wiping off his sweat, he walked towards a petrified Darian and Alicia.

“That was a pretty nice work-out. So anyways, let’s go ahead and get started with just how the hell you got a whole [Rhinobeast] stampede to chase after you.”

The two of them could only smile wryly in response.

“So...that’s what happened.”

“Yep.”

“Despite knowing something was up, you two didn’t think those rabbits running away was a clear warning to run away as well.”

“Yep.”

“Evening coming near wasn’t a worry either in your minds, am I right?”

“Yep.”

“And the only reason you went through all that is because you guys were scared shitless of another one of Jauvin’s talks.”

“Yep.”

Levion sighed after hearing all of that. It was a pretty funny tale in hindsight. However, the fact of the matter was they almost got killed from their negligence. Trying to hunt near sunset and beyond was just asking for a bunch of monsters to show up.

“Alright. Just make sure you two come back before sunset next time and follow the rules. I’m sure this has already been a good enough lesson for you two, correct?”

“Yes sir!”

After brushing the two of them up and checking for any injuries, Levion breathed in a sigh of relief. He knew that if he wasn’t home or if Valurn was a step late, not only would his son and his friend not exist anymore, the whole village might’ve been flattened in one go.

“Good. So it seems you two are fine besides being tired. Come back to the village with me. Dinner’s about ready from what I hear.”

“Okay.”

Brushing off a bit of dirt, the three of them got up. After checking and making sure they had everything, they started walking towards the village.

“Anyways, besides meeting those [Rhinobeasts], how was hunting today?” Levion asked, trying to ease the mood.

“Well, for the most part it—” Darian began but was soon interrupted.

“Darry did soooo amazing! He was able to defeat a whole [Ant-Crawler] by himself!” An energized Alicia cried out, her mood changing back to normal quick.

Darian glared at Alicia as he cursed under his breath for her interruption. She looked back and stuck out her tongue in response.

“Hoho. Those things aren’t stuff you see in the woods all the time.” Levion smiled with interest.

”Yep yep! In fact, he brilliantly struck it under with a headshot from his bolt! All to protect me!”

After hearing that last part, Darian was considering striking his own head with a bolt.

“Oh damn. I’m sure Valurn would be proud.” Levion replied.

“Isn’t Darry-poo sooo amazing Father?” Alicia asked in dreamy wonder.

“Of course. What else would you expect from the son of the great Levion.” The arrogant father boasted.

The both of them looked at each other with bratty smirks on their faces.

“Oh fuck this sappy bullshit.”

Darian cursed and picked up his pace, running back to the village annoyed while Alicia and his father burst out laughing behind.